Allow him to re-introduce himself.
For all of the great rap records that have graced the music landscape in 2017, no emcee has arguably had a stronger year than Jay-Z. After some scandalous cheating allegations arose in the lyrics of Beyoncé's attention-grabbing project Lemonade, Jigga addressed all those issues and more in 4:44, a much-dissected album that, upon repeat listens, only gets more involving and more intimate. Framed as potentially the last great effort from one of of the biggest hip-hop artists of all time, there are certainly things to discuss with Mr. Carter, should be give the world that opportunity. Originally, he did, but only for his Tidal subscribers, sitting down with Elliott Wilson and the rest of the Rap Radar podcast crew for a lengthy interview that touched on many different topics. Now, Jay has allowed the conversation to reach a wider audience, making it available to the public for free via YouTube.
The interview, which can be watched in two parts via Jay-Z's YouTube channel, covers a lot of ground and, somewhat surprisingly, several subjects that listeners may have felt were off-limits in terms of Hov's willingness to deal with them directly. However, that wasn't the case. He touches on the lyrics that he wrote about Kanye West, which sent a massive ripple effect through the hip-hop community, as well as their broken relationship, a cooling of two men who were once very close friends. Elsewhere, he talks about how he got his daughter, Blue Ivy, to step into the studio to record a freestyle for her 4:44 bonus track. Along with Queen B's involvement with the album, Blue Ivy's presence made it feel like that much more of a family affair.
The rest of 2017 will feature a lot more of Jay-Z as well. He just played the Made In America festival in Philadelphia and is also scheduled to headline at the Meadows Festival in New York City. He'll then embark on a widespread stadium tour that will include stops in both Canada and the United States, most notably two separate concerts in his native Brooklyn.
Check out the 4:44 interview videos below.